The Heat Interview : Sharleen Spiteri “Big Brother’s Tom has the most gorgeous eyes…I might have him in my next video”
by Polly Vernon - Heat magazine - 30 September 2000

Sharleen Spiteri might be the coolest girl in pop, but that doesn't stop her fancying Big Brother’s Tom, or doing the tango with Alan Rickman in her new video.
Polly Vernon gets the gossip

Here are some things everyone thinks they know about Texas' Sharleen Spiteri. She's surly. She’s moody. She has an over-inflated sense of her own fame. She’s slightly too into the hip, Evisu-wearing, Face-reading London crowd for her own good (suspicions considering a few years back, Texas were the second-least cool Scottish act in pop, after Deacon Blue). Apparently, she only really likes to talk about her music, glossing over the dark years between 1990 and 1996 when Texas fell from grace. She doesn't like to be contradicted. She’s a boys' girl.
So it's a bit of a surprise when Sharleen Spiteri steams into London's most fashionable Home House, all sunny good humour, confidence tinged with humility and considered intelligence. Petite and truly pretty, she's cool but not intimidatingly so. Her jeans are Paul Smith, her boots look expensive and her olive cord jacket is undeniably trendy, but not try-too-hard. Her Glasgow accent is soft and mellow. She likes Home House, but she’s not a member of this or any other private members' club. "Why pay to spend every night somewhere that looks like your house? " she asks. She’s energetic, tactile, and full of long, circuitous stories. She’s also pleased about being interviewed by a woman, which puts paid to the Spiteri-is-a-boys'-girl bitchery. And, although she's here to promote Texas' new album The Greatest Hits, she happily talks about all sorts of other tandem nonsense.

Texas have been making records for 11 years. This is not an obvious moment to bring out your greatest hits...
No, but the media thought that after White On Blonde we were saying, "OK, we're back, now forget that other stuff in between. "And that wasn't the case. We're really proud of everything we've done. The Greatest Hits album is like an answer to all that.

What were you like, in those very early days, with your flicky fringe and your checked shirts?
I was a little bit stroppy. I was a hairdresser. I remember sitting in the record company when I was 1 8, just signed the deal, and I heard someone say, "Can the Boiler wear a skirt? " And I sat there thinking, "You know what? Kiss my fucking arse." And when we started selling records I was like, "Ha! The Boiler sells some records."

As far as I was concerned, you were an icon. Were you utterly cool at school?
Never cool. I was a bit moody and sulky and I thought I was a goth. I was never part of a scene, I wasn't bullied or anything. I did have a fight once, though.

Did you win?
I got suspended.

What was it over?
A girl thought I fancied her boyfriend. I was like, "Ha! I think you're overrating your boyfriend." So we had a fight. I never had any boyfriends anyway. I was always the one who boys would come up to and I'd think they fancied me, and then they'd go, "You know your friend Isabel...

Harsh.
My friends had boobs, you see.

And you didn't?
Imagine me. I broke my nose four times before secondary school, and my head was smaller then, so my nose seemed huge. I had this long hair, and my ankles were so skinny I had to wear knee-high socks because if I wore nylon tights like everyone else, I looked like a freak. All the other girls had hips and boobs and looked like women, and there was me... I hated it. Hated school.

Yeah, but now you get to tango on petrol station forecourts with Alan Rickman in your videos.
He’s such a good dancer.

How did you hook up with him?
I was chatting away to Michael Kamen, the string arranger who did Net Aid with us, and he said: "My friend loves you. And I said, "Ooh, who's your friend? " And he replied, "Alan Rickman. " And I think he’s wicked, fantastic. I love him. Later, when I was talking to [video director] Vaughan about our new single In Demand, we thought, we need to find someone who you'd believe would just throw me into the tango. And I thought: "Alan Rickman. That's it."

He was only too happy to comply?
I called him up and left a message and he phoned me back at about nine in the morning, and Ashley [Heath, style guru and Sharleen’s boyfriend] answered. He comes running into the bedroom going, "Shar! Its Alan Rickman on the phone!" So I pick up the phone, and he goes, "Helloooo. " He talks sooo like that. And I did that thing where you pretend you've been up for hours.

Was it a sexy video to make?
Really sexy. He throws you about and you're like, "Take me." But my mum thought it was strange, seeing me with an older man.

Yeah. You and Alan. Kylie and Rutger Hauer in her new video. What's going on?
Kylie seems really on her own in hers, like she's performing for the man. I'd never perform for a man. Not in a video, nor real life. I don't get that. Maybe that’s why I haven't done men’s magazines.

You've been with your man Ashley for a long time now.
Six or seven years.

Do the two of you hang out in a Philippe Starck-style apartment of extreme trendiness?
No. Our house is upside down. I'm like, "Ashley, get these bloody magazines off the kitchen table." When you get to the 500 mark, its a bit much. We moved in about a year and a half ago, and we haven't emptied half the boxes. The bedroom's great, the living room's great, the kitchen’s great and we don't let anybody look anywhere else.

You and Stella McCartney are friends, aren't you?
Yep. We met on TFI Friday. We did a Paul McCartney special. I'm a massive Beatles fan. I went in the day before and did a rehearsal, and after we finished all I heard was this clapping. I thought it was Chris [Evans], but Paul McCartney appeared from the shadows. So I started laughing and said, "Sorry, I've never been applauded by a Beatle before". And Paul started laughing. Then Stella turned up, and we clicked instantly. After the show, the two of us were going, "Oh, I've got to phone my mum, see how it looked." I vividly remember thinking, they're just so normal.


Who else has surprised you?
U2. We played in Paris back in 1989, when I Don't Want A Lover was a big bit. We went to see them the night before, met them backstage, and they said, "We're going to come and see you tonight."And I thought, yeah, right. But they did.

How do you feel about losing your throne as queen lesbian icon to Anna Big Brother?
Have I been ousted by Anna? Oh, I don't mind being ousted by her. That’s OK. To be overshadowed by a singing nun I'm fine with that. I may regain my crown at some point. I met Tom from Big Brother last week.

What was he like?
Lovely. Most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen. I met him on T4. It was amazing to see someone who was so excited by it all. He was like, "Where's the next party? What next?" He couldn't believe his luck. That photo of him didn't do him justice. After he shaved all his hair off, he looked really... you know, I might have him in my next video.

Can you remember being star struck like that?
I met Paul Weller for the first time when I was 12. The jam were doing a photo session near Loch Lomond, and I'd just come back from school. I was walking up the road with my mates, and Paul Weller stood there and chatted to us. Mad. So when I met him the second time, after I Don't Want A Lover, I asked him if he remembered meeting me and my mates. And he did. I don't really do the star struck thing, but Paul Weller gets me.

Too right. Are you going to London Fashion Week?
If l'm here, I might do.

Do you get loads of fash freebies?
I buy everything. But I'm really lucky - Matthew Williamson sent me a lovely jumper last week. He went, "I had this, and I thought it was so you. " It's cashmere, gorgeous. Lee [Alexander] McQueen sends me stuff, and if I've borrowed some Chloé to wear on TV, Stella will let me keep it. I'm very lucky. But mostly I pre-order: I go in and pay like everyone else. I do get a massive discount, though. I'm happy to pay. I can afford it, can't I?

What's your next big buy?
I'm waiting for my Victor & Rolf three-piece suit. It's navy blue, pinstripe. I'm into waistcoats this season. I've been wearing lots of smart men's shirts with real 70s jeans, and waistcoats and jackets.

Do you do the high street?
I used to like Zara, but this season ain't rockin'. H&M's cut is really good. I got a wicked pair of jeans from H&M in Germany last week. Low ride round the waist and wide, wide flairs. I wear them with brogues for that northern soul look.

Have you ever bought Crème De La Mer, that obscenely extensive moisturiser?
I have, yeah. Like every other woman, I'm a sucker. it must be good if it costs that much.

And is it?
Yeah. But everyone should take starflower oil for their skin, because that's amazing.

Are you over chicken pox yet?
How did you know I had chicken pox?

Dunno.
Oh, I know. I told Chris Moyles. He kept going, "Ha ha, look at your face!"

That'Il be it.
I got it off my wee nephew. We had the paddling pool out the other week when it was sunny. Then he sat on a big bloody bee, so I had to suck the sting out.

Are you supposed to do that?
Yep. And then put vinegar on it. So I sucked it out, and he must have only just got chicken pox, so of course, I got it.

Do you want children?
Definitely.

Soon?
Very soon. But it's difficult at the moment, because I'm so busy. Still, if it happened, I'd cancel everything. And jump for joy.

Have you talked about it with Ashley?
Since we've been together, since we met it was a definite thing...

Was it love at first sight?
We met in Paris, and we had an argument over records, and that was it. Everything happened really fast after that. So we definitely want kids, but first we'll have to be in the same place at the same time. That’s an important factor, I believe.

Are you coping with your thirties?
I love it. I swear to God, it's great. When I was 22, people didn't give a shit. Now I'm 32, they're like, " You are a sex symbol. " And my 3Oth birthday was my first-ever surprise birthday party.

What happened?
It was in the Metropolitan Hotel, up in the penthouse suite. Very posh. My friend Janice had come down from Glasgow, so I thought that was the surprise. We'd gone out for a meal, about ten of us, and Johnny [McElhone, die-hard Texas band member and co-writer] said, "You've got to come back to the hotel, get some more presents." But then they couldn't find the right room. I was thinking, "How can you not know what room you're in?" I was leaning against the door, and everyone inside was hiding, and they could hear me. And I was like, "Fuck, fuck! You stupid bastards! You're useless!" I was quite drunk. Then the door flew open and everyone jumped out.

Did you go mental?
The first picture they've got of me, you can read my lips and see I'm going, "Fu..."


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